


Dragon's fire and flames

by ink_quill_pen



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Baby Dragon, Baby dragons like to bite, Cannibalism, Dragons go rawr, Mephisto Pheles is a Little Shit, Mephisto dosen't like kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:07:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27769537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ink_quill_pen/pseuds/ink_quill_pen
Summary: Samael found an egg
Relationships: Lucifer (Ao no Exorcist) & Okumura Rin, Okumura Rin & Mephisto Pheles
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	1. Hatching, and hatchling stage

It was a dark cold snowy night. Samael had just arrived back from his nightly scout, settled on the frosty grounds of the mountain. He folded his wings in order to slip through the entrance of his system of caves. 

However, just as he was entering his domain a soft shimmer caught his eye. Among the pale white snow was the silver looking thing. A small treasure perhaps, or maybe a small trinket left behind by a human who wandered too far into the mountain.

His hoard of shiny items had been lacking A new addition for quite some time. Samael stalked over to the object, he couldn’t help but notice the thing seemed to be rather circular, almost egg-shaped. 

Upon further inspection, he was surprised to find the object was in fact an egg. The poor baby could’ve been abandoned by its mother in the Dead season of winter. It was a common happenstance, of course, Samael could never approve. Although he didn’t understand what tragic circumstances could lead up to abandoning an egg. He picked it up and a path of glimmering frost caught his attention. 

The egg was not meant to be out in the cold, if it were an ice or water dragon it would have resisted the frost. The baby dragon inside could have already been dead, but Samael held onto it nonetheless. The slight chance that this dragon could be born was enough.

The egg easily filled his entire palm, which for most dragons wasn’t saying much but when you were around to see The rise of humanity itself anything that filled your palm was worth keeping.

Samael let his tail drag lazily behind him as he walked, he was already exhausted from flying and now he had this egg to hatch. He didn’t care about the noise it made as it clashed against scattered treasure, and scrapped against the floor of the cave. 

Entering his caves he dove into his hoard and cuddled up in the warmth that the pile still retained from earlier that day. He wanted to doze off right then and there, but a soft shifting of weight in his palm caught his attention.

The slitted pupils fixated on the small creature in his claw. With a sigh, he pulled himself up and prepared a small nest of pillows he had hoarded over the past few decades. He set the egg in the makeshift nest and kept it protected as he dug through his hoard from the proper equipment to hatch an egg. He knew he had it somewhere, digging through his treasure was always a chore.

Just some dried shrub, just something flammable. The egg looked in its final stage of devolvement so once it was given the proper setting it would hatch. Hopefully… The baby was moving when he held it so he was sure it was still living.

But he still needed to hatch it soon before any damage was done to it. Finally, amongst the hoarded items, he found what he was looking for. A large ring-shaped piece of metal. It would serve as the perfect base nest for the egg.

He placed the ringlet down and set down one of his older hoarded blankets and then he set the egg in the center. Ever so careful with united a spark in his throat and spat a small flame onto the blanket.

A flame embraced the egg, melting the frost and returning safety to the baby inside. The egg was safe, now all he had to do was wait… As he laid, staring at the egg his courtesy kept nudging at him, something was off about this egg.

It looked familiar like he had seen it someone was or at least something like it. This egg was unlike most eggs, it was already bigger but there was another thing he hadn’t noticed.

Maybe the shape? No, it wasn’t that, or maybe it was but it wasn’t what was so odd.

The color perhaps, but all dragon eggs were different and unique so he doubted that as well. Could it possibly be the patterns?

But that would be preposterous, patterns indicate breed and there was no way this egg could be aligned with…

Unless. A few months prior a young adult dragon, going by the name Satan rose into power gaining a significant following as he claimed to be one in kin with the dragon lord. Dragons lords were a breed that had long since disrupted and they were the only survivors, their powers were untold and unbelievable. For quite some time, humans believed the dragonlords to be myths.

Satan had gone around claiming he was equal to lords and should have a place beside them, the lords however did not agree with his statement. He was powerful and much larger than the rest of the dragon population, in fact, he was even bigger than the lords. Where he fell short was in his age, brashness, and tone. 

He had no patience or manners and often disrespected the lord’s name challenging them and speaking down on them, in certain instances he would claim to be above them and demand that he should be king of all dragons. 

Nothing about him sat well with the kings and they were sure to dispose of him, from what they knew he never got the chance to reproduce nor did he have a mate. So this egg couldn’t possibly be his…

But if somehow was, then that may be a problem. Satan was indeed one of their breed that had somehow hatched and grew without their knowledge so if this egg was his it was destined to be powerful.

It could tamper with his plans if the other kings found out about this egg, some of his “siblings” may want to kill it before it raises against them.

If this was one of them, Samael couldn’t allow it to be killed so easily. It was unfair to the baby especially when they could just raise it as they had done with the younger lords. After all the human population was on track to be at its heights so they may need another lord to keep humanity’s population balances.

Samael dragged himself up once again and went searching for the leftover shell pieces he kept from when he first hatched. It had been so long since then and over the years he lost so many pieces, but he knew he had them somewhere around his hoard.

A hollow crack snapped him out of his search. His scales froze as he slowly turned his head to see what on earth he had just broken.

He caught a glimpse of shiny little claws and fangs through the egg. It was hatching already? Eggs depending on what stage of development took anywhere from months to days to hatch but never minutes. It was plain wrong for an egg to hatch that quickly.

He starred in horror as the baby continued to crack through the egg. Should he stop it? Maybe it was already hatching when it was abandoned and this was supposed to be happing? Samael turned around and focused all his attention on the egg, watching it intently as he tried to look for anyone to help the baby.

Fear struck through him as the baby continued to crack as he began to cry out, was the egg wall too hard to break? Surely it wasn’t still frozen. Still, he needed to step in and now. He tried his best to fit his claws through the shell and pull the egg apart. It was rather easy to destroy it and rescue the baby.

The only problem now was the baby. It wouldn’t stop crying, it kept fussing and whining but it wouldn’t shut up.

It was a baby, of course, it wouldn’t shut up. These things were never quiet. They were loud and messy. Samael had no idea why anyone would spare time to raise something so annoying and bothersome. He was rather tempted to throw it out in the snow.

But something seemed to click into place as he held the baby. 

Baby is crying.

Baby is hungry.

Baby needs food.  
A deep instinctual voice was speaking to him, guiding him on actions…

What do baby dragons eat? Samael would never think he would not know something as trivial as this.

Not even a tap altered Samael of the presence of his elder brother. Lucifer had so quietly snuck into the cave that he did not raise awareness of his presence until he spoke. 

“Samael what on earth are you doing at this ungodly hour?” Lucifer grumbled, as his head stuck through the doorway. His golden scales rested softly against the stone as inspected his brother’s actions. Samael grew tense and hit the still crying back to his chest. 

“Why does it matter to you?” Samael grew defensive in response to Lucifer’s inquiry.

“Azazel, Amaimon, Astaroth, and Beelzebub found your actions to be disruptive of their sleep and they woke me from my rest to come to tell you to stop whatever you are doing,” Lucifer growled, leaning against the pillar as he was still half asleep. 

“Well my actions are none of your or their business, as for the sleeping problems they can suck it up, I have to deal with their rambunctious and irritating behavior as I have tried to sleep,” Samael growled in response, continuing to muffle the cries of the baby.

“What are you holding Samael?” Lucifer asked walking closer to the hidden baby.

“Why does it matter to you,”

“It sounds like you have a baby dragon in there, even though you swore to stop eating hatchlings several months ago. If you lied to me then I will rip your tail off,”

“I am not going to eat it, I think it may be the offspring of Satan,”

Lucifer was perplexed at the idea of hatching of their kind, the last hatching he watched grow as Beelzebub, and he didn’t get much bigger than the average size of an adult diamond hoarded. Satan, when he was living, was the largest dragon in history, as well as the strongest it made killing him harder but still he provided plenty of dinners for the dragon lords.

“Another of our species? Show me,” Lucifer commanded slowly approaching Samael. 

“No, he’s mine,” Samael hissed holding the baby closer.

“Samael,”

“I am not giving the baby to you,” 

“Give me the hatchling Samael,”

“No,”

The baby continued to cry, to the point of wailing as it tried to find food.

“Samael do you have food set aside for the baby? If not I have some extra stored in my den that I think is soft enough for the hatchling,”

Samael had to swallow his pride and accept the pity offering, it wasn’t really about him or his pride. The baby needed to be fed, and that was what was of the most importance.

Lucifer returned with a fresh corpse, it was a small white little bunny. The poor thing had wandered too far into Lucifer’s cave and made the mistake of finding refuge there. Its death was short and mostly painless.

Samael held the small dragon out to Lucifer. The baby was laid uncomfortable on it’s back and flailed around trying to flip over onto its stomach but to no avail. It was a pathetic display of weakness.

It was only then that Samael caught a good look at the baby, it had gorgeous white scales that sparkled against the dim lighting of his cave. Parts of the scales had a blue tint, around the eyes, claws and along with the unformed horns, the tint got darker. The darkest splotches of color were a deep royal blue.

The scale color alone was very reminiscent of Satan’s. Not to mention patterns were eerily similar to Lucifer’s with the darker patches along the face and claws. There was little doubt that this was one of their species, but the size was rather concerning. 

Amaimon was surely bigger than this when he hatched, and the same could be said for Beelzebub. It took months for them to hatch and they looked ready to kill from the moment they cracked. 

Yet, this hatchling was so frail; so small, so easily hurt, so easily broken, so easily killed. The small thing was wailing still, for such a small thing it sure had healthy lungs.

Lucifer diligently placed the rabbit in front of the fussing dragon. 

The little nose twitched as the rodent was placed in reach. The small body roasted and flopped onto its stomach with a little squeak. The small claws extended and the baby dragged its body over to the rabbit sniffing it to check if what was in front of him was food.

After a second of indecision, his jaws broke open and snapped around the bunny. In snake-like fashion, the baby moved forward as the bunny slid further and further into his gullet. With a satisfying snap, the bunny was gone and the dragon’s mouth was shut once again.

Lucifer watched this display proudly, while Samael found it to be lackluster. There was no spray of blood or scream of agony from the rodent, nothing was entertaining about this. 

Then the baby stopped moving except for the occasional fall and rise of its chest. 

“So that's it? I save your life and this is all I get? Ungrateful brat,” Samael hissed at the sleeping dragon.

“Just when I thought you were mature enough for this,” Lucifer groaned, his clawed hand coming to cover his face in despair.

“I am mature enough for this, but this baby is broken or something, it just fell asleep!” Samael put the baby on the pillow pile he created earlier.

“You should have come to me with the egg, you know nothing about baby dragons. You didn’t have any food for him. Not to mention he is prematurely hatched which only occurs when the hatchling is threatened. If you dropped the egg Samael I will not hesitate to take your horns,” Lucifer stepped towards Samael, a fire built up in his throat as he was on the edge of rage.

“The egg was frosting over, it had been abandoned if not for me the hatchling would be dead. If I hadn’t found it when returning from patrol it would still be out in the snow and dead by now,” Samael stepped forward as well, showing he was ready to defend himself if need be.

“I see,” Lucifer muttered, back away showing his resignation from his original challenge. “Well, we should make arrangements with the scouting schedule. I could take your night shifts if you take my day shift, and I will watch over your hatchling,” Lucifer replied, meeting Samael’s line of sight.

“Why would I need to change my shifts?” Samael sneered at Lucifer.

“You will need all the energy you have watching over the hatchling and caring for it, and you won’t have much energy the day after a night shift. Besides we have been going with the same schedule for far too long,”

A certain forest dragon revealed his location as he slipped and tumbled to the ground. The elder dragons were altered of the collection of Astaroth, Amaimon, and Beelzebub who were watching their conversation with great intent. 

Amaimon stood back up gripping his bruised jaw as he tried to rub the pain away.

“How much did you all hear?” Lucifer turned, facing the dragons that were no longer hidden.

“We hear the two of you yelling and decided to investigate, and you two were talking about changing shifts and a hatchling,” Beelzebub was the first to confess, spilling the entire story and explanation as to why they were here.

“Astaroth, go fetch Azazel and Iblis, Amaimon go get Egyn; everyone needs to be filled in about the changes that are going to be brought about around here,” Lucifer ordered, the smaller dragons quickly complied. “Samael, bring the hatchling,”

There was little fighting over the matter so Mephisto complied scoping the small body up with his claws and cradling it softly. There was no denying it was cute while it slept. The only problem was dealing with it while it was awake.

It was easy to collect the dragons for the meeting, and for the most part, Lucifer took the lead and had no issue in explaining the circumstances in which the baby had come about, but that was the easy part.

The other dragon lords had a plethora of reactions to the newly hatched Samael held onto.

“I can’t see why we just don‘t eat it,” Amaimon huffed, starting the argument on a cannibalistic note.

“What if it turns on us?” Iblis questioned, her scarlet scales furling against her neck at the thought of another rogue dragon.

“Samael are you sure raising this dragon is a good idea? Who knows what power it may hold,” Azazel spoke finally addressing his concerns.

“It’s better than trying to kill it or leave it for dead. There is no doubt in my mind that it will come back to haunt us if we try to dispose of him, so for the time being I will look after him, as for my shifts I have already arranged a change with Lucifer,” Samael answered, shutting down all excess chatter in the room.

“Well if this hatchling is sticking around can you at least show us what they look like?” Egyn asked, his sapphire scales flipping up as his interest spiked. 

Samael obliged and placed the small body onto the floor, the baby let out a small hiss like whine as it lost contact with Samael, a contact which it intended to reclaim. The small claws searched for Samael’s only to miss and bat at open air.

By that action alone even the numbest minded dragon could tell the hatchling had imprinted. But just as secondary confirmation the baby started to squeal as if it were in pain as it searched for Samael. Despite his instinct screaming at him stayed still watching the baby squirm.  
Lucifer took a chance and scooped the hatchling open, only worsening the situation and causing the baby to shriek as it was held against its will. This was not Samael, hatchling wanted Samael, not Lucifer. It only took the tip of his nail round the baby’s tail for it to latch on to his claw entirely.

“Well it’s clear that the hatchling has already imprinted, so there is no way around this. Now, none of you will be forced to like to even expect the hatchling but I would suggest you at least come to terms with the fact that they are here to stay,” Lucifer announced, drawing his arm back in place.

Samael fiddled with the baby and placed it softly on his back, not letting go until the newly hatched had latched onto his scales.

“Well if it’s staying can we give it a name?” Iblis crawled closer to Samael, trying to get a good view of the hatchling.

“Do you know the gender of the hatchling? I don’t like calling hatchlings,” Egyn huffed leaning against the floor.

“I will decide a name for the hatchling and determine its gender in the morning, I know that the two of us are tired and by the looks of things you are as well,” Samael grumbled, shifting his weight onto his legs in a swift gracious motion. 

“Can you even keep that thing quiet all night long?” Amaimon slumped down next to Egyn, his lips parted to accommodate a soft yawn revealing the thin fangs he had to attack prey.

Amaimon’s emerald green scales blended in nicely with the greenery of plants, and his smaller size made it easy for him to navigate difficult terrains such as forests, but he could only manage to bring down certain prey. By no means was he an apex predator, but he was more powerful than most dragons and that was an accomplishment all on its own.

“The hatchling is fed and if we don’t interrupt its sleep then we have till dawn to rest,” Lucifer explained with a small huff as he stood, stretching his legs out softly as he prepared to settle in once more.

“Does anyone have any more questions or can I go back to my den?” Samael growled scanning the other lords for further complaints. 

The room went silent and Samael took that as his cue; as he left so did Lucifer. Azazel decided to add to the pile of dragons that was forming, soon Iblis and Asatroth joined the pile with Beezlebub crawling his way between the dragons and finding a warm spot to cuddle into.

It has been a while since they had slept like this, all cuddle up. Well, not all of them Lucifer and Samael opted out of it. Still, they hadn’t bundled up like this in a while. It was messy sleeping in a pile of scales and fangs but it was warm, and the small dull caves they were used to lacked that warmth. 

So it was a trade out, besides this pile would just be for tonight. So they could deal with the uncomfortableness for a few hours. If in the past they put up with sleeping in a pile for months then a single night would be fine. 

They didn’t have objections when they were hatchlings, pups, and fledglings. Things were simpler and smaller back then, those days were nice. Well nice for the younger siblings, losing the empresses and having to raise the other lords had been quite the challenge at the time.

But as they all grew older the roles reversed, life was a breeze for the elder dragons and a bigger challenge for the younger. Still no matter the challenges the youngsters faced, the life of a dragon lord was far easier than the life of a common dragon. By the power alone the lords were gods compared to an average dragon, no matter its size.

Settling into the pile and drifting off to sleep was easy for the dragon and his hatchling. Amongst the miscellaneous trinkets and other human wealth was a group of blankets and fabric making the junk just comfortable enough to rest in. 

The two gladly slept through the rest of the night making it to dawn without a single mishap. 

The baby woke with a small chirp and rolled onto its side. Only to learn the fault in its action too late as he slid down the emerald scales of the dragon lord.

With a small shriek, the baby landed on the pile and miserably continued to roll down the hill. The baby continued to cry as he tumbled down the pile, his small skull couldn’t take much more abuse.

Claws caught him and prevented further free fall.

“For something so young you have already managed to cause me a great deal of trouble. Disrupting my sleep, changing my plans entirely, waking me up early, and giving me a panic attack all since you hatched. In a span of mere hours, you have broken the order I had in my life,” Samael hissed and the hatchling. “I suppose I should thank you for that,”

The hatchling once still let its jaw slip open in a small little yawn. 

With a small cracking chirp, the eyes of the dragon hatchling slid open.

Two sapphire eyes gazed up at Samael, they held a look of admiration and childlike trust. 

A small thrill came from the hatchling as it’s legs folded underneath its small body. 

Samael met the gaze and returned the small coo, the baby lit up with joy and grabbed a hold of the elder dragon’s claws.

The small paws of the dragon barely even covered one of Samael’s scales. 

“Well since you had the audacity to wake me up so early I suppose our day can begin with finding a proper name for you,” Samael folded his hand and moved the small dragon to his other palm while he stalked around his cave. 

He needed to find something small for the baby to consume. Gazing upon his stockpile he was already running low on food for himself so he might as well go hunting. 

“I will have to leave you with Lucifer for a while so I can go hunting. Once I have eaten some food I can give you a name. Do you understand?” Samael asked the hatchling, in response, the dragon slumped against his palm and let out a small squeak.

“I will take that as a yes,” 

Samael placed the hatchling onto his back and watched for the small claws to latch on. Once recognizing the place the baby took hold and happily rode on the elder dragon’s back. The baby let out a small chirp of content as it nuzzled into the scales.

Tiny vibrations came from the baby dragon, it felt like a purr but barely any noise was being made. 

This tiny creature was weird. 

When entering Lucifer’s cave the first thing that set him off was the scent, then next was how everything was arranged. Lucifer had rearranged everything and cleaned up as well. Lucifer before had the cleanest and tightest dens out of all the brothers so this level of cleanliness was concerning. 

The golden dragon with questionable sanity was still sleeping, half-buried in the pile of gold. 

“Lucifer, get up,” Samael growled biting softly at Lucifer’s outstretched claws.

With a snarl Lucifer awoke, his eyes fixed on Samael’s neck. “What has given you such bravery to waltz in here and wake me?”

“Lucifer I am going to go hunting, can you look over the hatchling while I am out?” Samael asked, stepping fully into the cave, waking the drowsy dragon.

Lucifer’s pupils grew wide as he saw the baby, the small shiny demons looked around the cave in awe. The gold lighting sparkled against the white scales of the baby in a beautiful array of colors. “Their eyes opened, Samael are sure about leaving now? I could hunt for you,”

“No, Lucifer this isn’t just for the baby but me as well, and you never hunt what I like to eat. Can’t you just watch it for a while?” Samael scoffed looking back at the baby. “See he liked it here,”

“I am just concerned for their development, if they saw you leave then they may be scared,” Lucifer stood, golden coins and trinkets fell to the stone floor with a perfect ring.

“You are good with little things, I trust you,” Samael replied, removing the dragon from his back and placing it in front of Lucifer.

“Samael, this is extraordinarily bad for the baby’s welfare you can’t just leave them here without letting them adopt to me, they may think you are abandoning them,”

“It will be fine, and while you're at it, figure out it is so I can name it,” Samael lazily explained, pushing the reluctant dragon forward with the tip of his snout.

“Samael,” Lucifer snarled at the dragon but to no avail.

“I will be back soon Lucifer,” Samael replied with a smirk slithering out of the den. 

“I am sorry for his behavior, if it was up to me I would have been the one to hatch you, and I can promise you wouldn’t be treated like this,” Lucifer sighed, settling back into the gold.

The small dragon shrunk down as it looked around, a frown appeared on the baby’s lips as he looked around. Slowly he began backing away from Lucifer and hit a corner. The baby cried out in a mix of shock and fear.

Lucifer could only feel sorrow and pity for the small creature, it was so small and it had just been left by the only being it trusts. Lucifer laid his head down on the ground and began to purr.

At first, it startled the poor thing, but slowly the dragon came to realize Lucifer was not growling but instead purring. The small dragon matched the tone and crawled forward. It’s small claws tapped against the stone. Baby dragons were truly a joy to be around.

Lucifer moved slowly, making sure to watch the hatchling for any signs of fear. If the baby was put off by the movement Lucifer would move slower than before as he continued to approach the dragon. 

It wasn’t the most ideal way to get closer, but it was better than nothing. Finally, he got close enough to grab the back of the hatchling with his jaw. The hatchling froze as Lucifer carried it over to his hoard of gold.

He placed the small dragon on it’s back then let it shift over to its stomach once it felt comfortable enough to do so. In the meantime, he inspected then numerous indicators that came with a dragon’s sex. 

The skin under the wings pointed downwards, and the tail fin of the baby curved upward when placed on it’s back. The small noticing like this was what brought Lucifer to his conclusion, the hatchling was male similar to the majority of the dragon lords.

Lucifer dove into the pile next to the hatchling and laid his wing over the baby. He had a feeling the two would in time grow to have a good bond.

Samael soon reentered the cave with a small frost coating his scales; slowly being warmed by the soft glow of the fire lamps Lucifer had set up in the room.

“There, I have food, now do you know what it is?” Samael lifted his tail and stepped further into the cave as he glanced around for the hatchling he was coming to retrieve. 

“Well, I can say you have a sleepily little boy to take care of,” Lucifer murmured, lifting his wing.

The hatchling was cuddled against the golden armor, buried right in the line between the gold and scales. The small boy had his head resting on the scales with the rest of his thin body parallel to Lucifer’s.

“So have you come up with a name for him yet?” Lucifer let his wing fall over the baby once more as he faced Samael.

“While I was out a name did come across my mind. His father’s name was Rinka at birth so a variant of his name only seemed fitting. I was thinking Rinka as a given name but we could call him Rin if we wanted to,” Samael pondered, laying down against the stone floor.

“We could keep it simple and just call him Rin,”

“Yeah, that works too,”


	2. Mephisto would rather not be a responsible adult

Waddling through the halls Rin stumbled across an odd stone. Transparent and glowing red certainly stood out amongst the dull stone. 

Cracking his jaw open he slid the rock into his mouth, he began bounding back to Lucifer's den to boast about his newest find. Cool little trinkets like this were hard to find but Rin still mangled to find one on occasion. 

Little bits and pieces of treasure always managed to slip out of the lord's dens as they moved along the corridors. The little fraction of their wealth meant practically nothing but Rin it was the entire world, and it was better he found it and hoard it rather than some random dragon. 

He was three molds into his teen body and had grown significantly already, still, he was only about the size of Samael’s skull and his scales were far too soft to provide any significant protection against any dragon larger than himself. 

For now, he would remain a scavenger and practice hunting as well as flying inside the cave system under the watchful eyes of Lucifer, Azazel, and Samael. Well, it was more Lucifer than anyone else; Azazel spent most of his time with humans and Samael had gotten rather active with mates crawling in and out of his cave each and every night.

They never stayed for too long but he still managed to have a constant flow of fully matured dragons, making it far more dangerous for Rin to reside in Samael’s cave for the nights or even evening.

Approaching the mouth of the cave Rin froze, Samael’s tail darted across each side in a territory stance and a daring bellow escaped from his jaws. 

“I am not telling you to stop looking for a mate, I am telling you to stop prioritizing it above all else. You have been getting rather lax on your duties as a dragon lord and Azazel and I are tired of your constant laziness,” Lucifer snarled as Rin sunk against the wall and began moving closer with his catch. 

Amaimon was scouting and Iblis was sleeping so there wasn’t anyone else he could go to in order to wait out this current conflict. So he stood, pressed against the wall listening to the beating hearts and echoing growls as he clung to the glowing rock.

“I have been doing my fair share of work, I have not delayed a single one of our advancements. I don’t understand why you two are making such a big deal about my private life,”

“Because of how you are acting, you never show up to meetings anymore you have skipped several scouting missions, and not to mention you don’t even care to eat with us anymore,” Azazel stepped in wind rushing past his wings as they shot open fanning out making him look more an of a threat than he claimed to be.

“You don’t care to invite me to meetings anymore, I have only missed scouting because you overscheduled yourselves and decided last moment to pawn it off to me. You are mad because I have priorities as well, and so what if I don’t care to eat with you. My eating habits do not affect you,”

“It makes all the difference Samael. You are acting like you don’t even know us like you don’t even care. You have even been ignoring Rin for the selfish goods of your pleasure,” Lucifer’s claws prickled into the gold sending mounds crushing under his constrictive grasp.

“It’s rather bold of you to assume I even care about that sparkly brat,” Samael seethed through his fangs, sending fragments through fire through his strong-worded language. 

A noisy clatter sounded through the corridors as the stone came crashing onto the floor shattering as the fracture point succumbed to gravity. Rin stood above the gem watching as it all unraveled to shambles, just a mickey of parts of a jewel.

Samael didn’t care about him? They are brothers, he loves and cares about him. Or was that just a lie? Endless moments, spent sleeping, playing, practicing, and even eating all meant nothing to him. The entire world which Samael had handcrafted was just getting in the way.

Further alterations halted as the resounding noises indicated the wretched mistake made mid-conversation.

Shaking, tears pooled into his eyes, jaw cracked he couldn’t even manage to whimper as the intoxicating reality settled in a thick blanket of flaming misery. Rin’s soft belly stung as his boney legs collapsed. The cold seeped into his claws and along his scales trapping his wings against his back, creating an unscratchable itch a feeling he could not shake buried within his newfound depressive mood.

Fangs clamped onto the gentle fold of Rin’s scales, paralyzing the small body for a successful as safe pick up. Amaimon without further cue walked to his den with Rin in the jaw, his claws narrowly avoided the shards of the crimson crystal spread about the floor. Someone would clean the mess up eventually but for the time being, it was better to store Rin somewhere safe as Lucifer, Azazel and Samael worked out their issues. 

Opening his stalky wings, Amaimon took flight; nudging the cusp of the edges of the barrier where the cave met the snowy mountains in which the lords resided. Taking a swift turn Amaimon soared east for his Egyn’s, and Astaroth's cave unit.

Although drained from his scouting found enough energy to glide safely over to his cave without dropping or losing the small dragonlet. 

Landing on the stone ledge of claws clung to the solid surface, his back talons slid as friction lagged behind. Digging into the icy stone Amaimon pressed his way into his cave system, following the scent of moist molding fungi and yeast. 

The humid hit in a wave of warmth adding some spark of comfort along with a soft tingle Rin’s nose an unfortunate effect of Astaorth’s den or any living space he so happens to inhabit. 

With his mouth full Amaimon called out to the tunneled demon, he always dug up his den so he could sleep under the muddy pile he called a nest. The muffled complaints were enough to stir Astaroth from his stupor.

“Amaimon why are you so dead set on bothering me wher-,” Astaroth burrowed his way out of the dirt mound to confront the foolish lord who dared wake him only to stop at first sight of the glassy eyes and tear treks across Rin’s scales. 

“What happened,” His once snippy voice became soft to soothe the dragonlet as he approached with a cautious murmur. 

“Lucifer, Azazel, and Samael had a spat with Samael being the one defending himself. During their fight, Samael told Lucifer and Azazel he did not care about or for Rin. Rin at the time was holding a rather pricey gem, and it shattered when he dropped it. Wasting a perfectly good gem,” Amaimon huffed, tossing the dragonlet down.

“Oh you poor dear,” Astaroth cooed, taking Rin into his arms and letting him burrow into his earthy scales.

Although his potent musk stung Rin’s eyes and set fire along his nose he burrowed into the comforts of the elder and far larger dragon.

Astaroth was never a stickler for cleanliness or tidiness which collided rather violently with Lucifer’s strict rules on keeping his den and sorting his gems and gold. Naturally, Rin picked up on the subtle hints and ticks of proper grooming tactics and overall cleanliness through his living space. 

Meetings between Astaroth and him were far and few, it was in the desperate moments like this where he would cling to anyone who offered an ounce of pity for his situation. Amaimon had been someone what of a good playmate although generally, he was far too aggressive of a playful partner, so he was not the most caring when it came to any situation regarding Rin’s emotions. 

Sniffling a new wave of tears came pouring as Rin felt the unwavering warmth and delicacy seeping from Asatorth with no restraint or drawback, he loved him unconditionally with such ease.

“ I understand why he’s making such a big deal about this. So what if Samael doesn’t love him, he doesn’t love anyone,” Amaimon growled settling onto the mossy floor of the den. 

“Remember when our mothers left? You threw the biggest fit. It’s because you imprinted on them, it’s the very same reason you were glued to their side for the first four stages of your life. You don’t understand what it’s like to feel unloved by the dragon you are instinctually told to Love platonically for the rest of your days.” Astaroth was clam with his tone as he tried his best to soothe the young dragon in his arms. “Between neglecting him, and prioritizing mates over Rin, it was only a matter of time for something like this occurred,”

Rin’s sniffled died down and replace his broken hiccups as Rin tried to scramble together the words to squeak his mind. “W-why doesn’t Samm-my love me?”

The cute nickname only added a bitter coating to the already jarring sight. “He does love you Rin, he most likely just irritated and didn’t mean it,”

“Of course he meant it, he always means what he says,” Amaimon retorted, his tail pressing into the ground as he perked up his chest.

“Amaimon if you aren’t going to be helpful you can leave,” Astaroth snapped, pulling Rin closer.

“Lying to him isn’t going to make things better, playing make-believe that Samael is a kind benevolent being is a straight out lie. It would be far kinder for you to tell him the truth,” Amaimon set his head down on a mossy patch.

“Amaimon Astaroth keep Rin safe, Egyn is going to the larger cave system and I am going after Mephisto,” Iblis announced swiftly crossing the opening of the cave.

“What’s going on?” Astaroth asked fishing for clarity. 

“Lucifer attacked Samael, and now Samael flew off but he didn’t realize he was flying directly into a snowstorm. Beelzebub and I will track him and heal whatever wounds he may have. Egyn and Azazel are calming Lucifer down. 

Can you two just keep an eye on Rin and keep him happy. Once Lucifer is calm he will want Rin back, and it would be best if Rin were happy by then,” Flustered Iblis tumbled over her words as she managed to explain the scenario the dragons had managed to find themselves in.

“Of course, do what you must,” Astaroth was the first to formally reply, sending Iblis off with a nod.

The scarlet dragon sped off down through the tunnels after the violet scaled beast that was currently on the brink of a radge.

“Are they fighting because of me?” Rin squeaked pain racking through his voice.

“No, they never get along. But you being around them has got them to agree for a bit,” Amaimon hummed scooting closer.

“They are like fire and ice; they can’t exist together for too long until one of them get irritable,” Astaroth tried to use a complementary metaphor to guide his speech in properly soothing the dragonlet. 

“But why do they argue?” Rin’s tail flicked softly as he raised his head to meet Astaroth’s eyes.

“They don’t play nice,” 

Why did the sunset and rise every day? Why did the wind blow? Why did people live and die? It was just part of nature, something that was not to be questioned. Lucifer and Mephisto always bickered and argued over small things but rarely had hurt or harmed Mephisto.

The lack of controversy may have been a catalyst for such an extreme reaction; years of unspoken conflict finally cracked the surface and snapped the tolerance Lucifer and Samael had held. It all boiled over and Rin was unfortunate enough to witness it first hand.

“I wonder what business Azazel had with them to be discussing with them,” Amaimon dug small circles into the loose substrate with his claws as the weak-willed conversation continued on.

“He was most likely there to moderate but held certain biases,” Astaroth let his mouth fall as exhaustion swept by him nearly drowning out his better judgment to the point of nearly dropping Rin.

“That does sound like him,” Amaimon shifted his wings as he rolled onto his back, twisting his body in a rhythm of dramatic motion to create a small dent in the soft floored den.

“Well it seems we are all tired,” Rin sunk into a limbo, his body going limp as gave into the sweet embrace of sleep.

It was odd, holding Rin and feeling all his muscles loosen and eyes close the thought of losing the dragonlet in the caves was already a fearful thought. But to consider losing Rin to a far crueler being, if Rin were to die no one would be the same. 

Rin was a pivotal point in their lives; he kept a steady but chaotic balance in their lives, being both an inspiration and bother. 

Digging his own nest Astaroth unearthed a small bed of fresh moss and warm moist dirt to settle the delicate dragon upon. Rin lay motionless as Astaroth settled around his, wrapping a tail around the general area surrounding Rin and adding another layer of protection in the form of his torn wing. Beads of light slipped through the various piercing and puncture wounds in the wings making the blanketing wing a bit more breathable and freeing.

As night settled in around the horizon the soft roar of the storm just a few paces from the mouth of the cave went unheard as the damp atmosphere stayed steady through both day in and day out. For years Astaroth had kept this cave the perfect mix of warmth and water in order to spawn his so desired fungi, mosses, and other various decomposers. 

Gasing from a distance Amaimon’s stomach began to ache. After all the chaos and mindless work of today had finally gotten to him and drew him to feel rather bizarre. Lusting for an ounce of affection Amaimon trudged through the rotting domain over to Astaroth, minding the small growths of mushrooms as he moved.

Finally arriving at his desired location, just out of reach Amaimon sat, making a newer but small indent with his body weight. He didn’t want to go through the process of rolling a new bed for himself to rest in and risk waking Rin and Astaroth. 

So there he sat, just a claw grasp away from true comforting warmth as his tail dug into the ground searching for some entertainment to enrapture him or lead him to the dream world he felt so disconnected with.

“Come here tsundere,” Astaroth dug his other wing from under his torso and wrapped it around the small green dragon, not minding as the emerald scales collided with the soft-toned brown scales he possessed. 

“I am not,” Amaimon couldn’t even manage to utter a word in his defense before he was rudely cut off.

“Just go to sleep,” Astaroth ordered having enough of the backtalk he had endured.

The night passed rather quickly for the trio as the rest of the lords scrambled to create some mangled balance in their relationships once more. Everyone wished for peace but that wasn’t an option for them and it would never be. It was the big drawn-out fights like these that kept everyone on their toes. 

Life had settled in a bit too nicely for the universe to handle so of course things had to be shaken up, poor Rin just happened to stumble into the middle of it. He was far too young to understand the true weight of the conflict Lucifer and Samael had; or why resolving this issue was useless, as they would only latch onto another thing to bicker about.

Stirred by a cool gust of wind Astaroth’s own shivered awoke him. Something was amiss in his damp den if cold air had seeped in sometime during the night, fearfully Astraroth snapped to the beds of moss and fungi he was harboring. He would be damned if he let hundreds of years of work fly out of the window so easily. Egyn continued adding a small layer of frost along Astaroth's wing to stir him from his sleep, unbeknownst to the fact Astaroth was already soundly awake. 

“What are you doing?” Astaroth curled his tail around Rin fearing for Egyn’s response, he knew why Egyn was here and what prize he wanted to claim. 

But for the moment Rin was under his sole protection and would remain that way.

“L-lucifer wants Rin back. I knew taking him from you while you were sleeping would upset you... so I decided to wake you,” Egyn responded drawing his head back from the frozen wing.

“And?” Astaroth pursued the topic, knowing eventually he would have to give Rin up, but it was far more fun to see Egyn squirm at the moment.

Egyn’s point seemingly fell on deaf ears, unwillingly he bluntly rephrased his point. “So… Give him to me so I can take him to Lucifer,” 

“No,” Asatorth was always a pain the ass especially when he wanted to be the worst behaved he could but there was a limit Egyn would tolerate.

“Astaroth don’t be stubborn, we all have to share,” However sharing was not in their truest nature, they were born and raised selfish and gladly hoarded all they could

“Yeah and Lucifer can share Rin for a bit longer, it’s been years since I have gotten to spend time with him,” Astaroth snarled, biting back his own fangs.

A groggily groan erupted from Rin as he pawed his way out from Astaroth’s wing. “Egyn? Is that you?” Rin slipped out of Astaroth’s grasp, his small muzzle poking out into the musky air.

“Yes, Rin. Lucifer wants to see you,” Egyn scooted closer to where the calls echoed from under the wing.

“Is Samael back yet?” Rin drew his head from the icy sheet to face Egyn.

“I think so,” Egyn stuttered, oddly caught off guard by the question.

“Good, I need to have a talk with him,” Rin was always so bold in his actions and direct with his intentions. It was rather cute such a small thing could do any real harm to Samael so it was most likely best to keep Rin away from Samael just to avoid a conflict if it were to arise.

“Alright but first you get to see Lucifer,” Egyn muttered typing to bargain his way to victory.

Thankfully Rin decided to play nice and slid out from under the wing, stumbling his way to Egyn with unbidden failure. Nonetheless, he was able to scrape himself off the floor and find his way to the similar colored dragon.

Blue seemed to be an inherited theme with their scales every one of them had a small dash or shade of either blue or black; though that could possibly just be attributed to their breed as a whole.

Grabbing the scruff of Rin, Egyn placed the dragonlet upon his back as stood, preparing for his flight. For the most part, Egyn prepared to linger in the darker depths of the sea but it was nice to stretch his wings in the open air. Just in general his wings were far weaker and less prepared for normal flight but occasionally he would use them in their traditional purpose.

With the small addition of weight, it was a bit more taxing to lift off the ground. Faltering on his thin wings Egyn drove himself from the ground and took flight, flapping his way out from the cave system and into the briskly chilled air with feathery clouds dancing against the horizon promising a small dusting of snow later on in the day.

It wasn’t too far of a distance from the main cave system so Rin couldn’t stay long enough to complain about the sudden discomfort as the frost-bitten air collided with the moisture still damp against his scales. He would have to visit Astaorths cave sometime soon, it was rather earthy and comfortable.

Struggling Egyn collided with the floor of the cave as he landed rather clumsily but safely he delivered Rin.

“Thank you Egyn,” The dragon lord, as powerful and strong as he was, deserved some praise and Rin was not one to shy away from such a gracious act. Everyone needs a little sympathy and kindness. 

he wouldn’t get onto Lucifer just yet, though soon they would have a talk about Lucifer’s actions…. Sure what he had said was mean but Samael didn’t deserve to be scratched for it! Besides, he could have seriously hurt Samael if he wasn’t careful.

Rin didn’t get to walk for much further as Lucifer paced along the halls his sunlight golden scales glimmering as streams of length refracted off his glimmering coat. His nervous lime eyes seemed to glaze over Rin as he was trapped in his world of hurt and worry. Wings hovering in a half-open and half-closed position almost as if Lucifer was bound to set off in his own path of flight.

Samael was foolish regardless of how he tried to act omnipotent; he failed in the most basic ways of true grace and elegance. He was a sad cover-up for a weak-willed coward who could not even manage to have enough dignity to care about one of their own. 

He was the one who hatched Rin and possessed over him for those first few months it seems he did not realize the longevity of Rin. He would live for thousands of years alongside the rest of the lords and one day once he has grown he will take his rightful place beside them in caring for and destroying humanity keeping an unbalanced balance of true chaotic peace.

It was the only way this world would serve to host all of them for the rest of eternity. But when the mortality day of the human’s earth arrived the dragon lords would happily assist them to a safer domain. 

Humans cannot exist without dragons and dragons need humans in order to thrive as well. Prey needs the monsters in order to not have overpopulation and keep life interesting, monsters need the prey to fuel them and to fight over keeping a balance within their population as well.

They had a neutral unit a balance that was not to be disrupted or destroyed. This was part of the reason why it is so imperative the young egg survived and made it to hatching and enough stages to the point where Rin could hunt and eat for himself.

Rin still had plenty of growing to do but fate would make sure to care for the dragonlet where ever he found himself. 

“Lucifer?” Rin chirped approaching with an urge of caution.

“Oh Rin, it’s nice to see you safe and sound,” Lucifer cooed, his head turned to face the dragonlet who sat ever so patiently on the unmarked stone.

“Why wouldn't I be safe?” Rin inquired shifting on the stone.

“I wasn’t worried about your physical safety Rin, I trust you and our brother enough to know better than to worry about that. It’s your mental state that bothers me however, Samael said some rather hurtful thing I just want to make sure you are feeling well.” Lucifer crooned his eyes holding delicate care for the dragonlet.

The overly sweet baby talk sparked a foul taste in Rin’s mouth that lulled over his tongue and lurked into the depths of his throat as words shot against the newfound barrier. He was still a baby by all means so the soft-toned talk was only to be expected, he didn’t feel like a baby.

He was the eldest he had ever been, the most mature, and the most strong; he didn’t feel like a hatchling anymore and he did not appreciate being talked down to like one either. 

With a sweet smile, Rin rolled onto his back exposing his fragile underbelly in an adorable show of weakness. “Hey Lucifer, it’s been a while since you have taken me flying. Can we go fly?” 

“You don’t need to do that anymore to get me to agree Rin,” Lucifer slithered closer taking the small dragonlet into his claws, standing by as Rin twisted and flopped around in his palm so he could comfortably be adjusted against the cage of claws he had become far too familiar with. Unintentionally or not but by his size alone Lucifer’s palm was the perfect place for Rin to be contained. 

Thousands of years of keeping made the claws impossible to break through as all the weakened spots had been filed or cut down and thousands of protective coats had been applied adding unnecessary protection to the keratin as a whole. The thick golden scales made any hopes of biting or scratching his way to the nerve ending buried within the strengthened bio armor a ludicrous idea.

“Um… Lucifer?” Rin’s concern did not waver or tamper as the palm flinched against his words.

“Yes, Rin?” The palm did not relent, trapping Rin in a temporary prison.

“I would like to fly on my own this time around. I need to work on my flying,” Rin peaked his head out through a small opening to see the reaction to his suggestion.

“Alright just hover around me. If you start to feel fatigued don’t hesitate to land on me,” The claws gave in giving Rin the desired space he so craved.

“I know. I remember the rules,” Rin whined at the pestering remark as he began a persistent strut to the cave opening. 

“Why do you even want to fly so badly?” Lucifer’s wings unfolded as he prepared to take flight once they met the lip of the cave.

“Most dragonlets my age are leaving the nest. And here I am moping around finding rocks all day,” More complaining followed Lucifer’s remark.

“Most dragonlets in your stage haven’t even started walking or even hunting for themselves. Still, your age doesn't matter, what matters is your current mold stage. Every dragon species grows at a different rate and you have a lot more growing to do in the next centuries,” Lucifer coyly reminded. 

“Well, I have been early to everything else, besides most dragonlets aren’t like me,”

“That’s exactly my point Rin. You are trying to speed up your growing process and you are just going to end up hurt or worse,” A sight paused Lucifer’s lecture. “Many dragons and humans would be more than happy to kill you Rin. Your scales are worth more than thousands of common dragon eggs,”

“Why? What makes me so valuable?” Tripping over a small stone Rin’s grace was ruined.

A small chuckle ran past Lucifer’s lips as he watched the small dragon stumble to his feet.

“You are quite literally one in a trillion, not to mention your scale can resist the full pressure of your own jaws making it rather durable and useful to both humans and dragons. Although the full strength isn’t there yet seeing as you are still growing and your average bite force is no greater than one of a dog,” 

There was no arguing with the viable point provided so Rin kept his jaw shut and went along with Lucifer's point. It took no time for their wings to graze the air as they took off in flight.

Flying although it was somewhat fun felt drained of purpose, soaring along the light clouds creating soft wisps of displaced water vapor as they flew, fragmenting the collective bodies of mist that had collected.

Rin felt so light but empty, he was missing something. There was an empty cavity in his chest where a heart once seemed to beat and leap at the very idea of flying. Everything seems to lack color; from the once cheery blue sky which has faded to a dull slate, to the proudly glowing sun which was no more than a ghostly hue of its full vibrance. It was all a melancholy washed domain once host to a steady flow of all saturation and joyous life. 

It didn’t take long for Lucifer to notice the sudden drop of Rin’s head or the peculiar way Rin’s wings unnaturally curved inwards towards his chest. “Rin is something wrong?”

“I. I think I am just tired or hungry,” Rin yawned swaying in his flight.

“We can head back to the caves if you want,” It was only normal for Rin to tap out around this point, so nothing was thought of the small tease in his suggestion. 

“Yeah… That seems like a good idea,” Rin glided onto his back and quickly grabbed onto the scales as he was trained to.

Shaking off the suspicions Lucifer made a sharp turn back to his den. The rest of the day would be spent sorting the freshly scattered treasure from the scuffle from before. The dull tones carried on through the day. It was all so numb, no pain or joy could hide the softly growing hole.

“Lucifer?”

“Yes, Egyn?”

“Sam..ael has announced his mate with eggs,”

Silence over fell the soft clinks of golden trinkets benign sorted into various piles.

So what was it? Samael was replacing him. Is that all he was, just a thing that needed to be replaced when no longer entertaining? A fun toy to play with only to be thrown to the side once no longer deemed useful. The rest of the day all merged in a migraine of misery and desperation.

It was only that night when memories properly formed.

A cold breeze carried songs and whispers of something far more linger just beyond the edge of the cave. A hum awoke Rin calling his legs to stretch and carry him to the lip of the cave was something greater. Just the promise of fulfillment blocked out any notice of punishment or danger that laid beyond. Slipping out of Lucifer’s protective hold Rin let his claws lead him through the murky night.

Snow drifted into the edges of the cave but the temperature difference did not even stir common sense within Rin. He just kept walking.

How he got off the mountain or even into the snowy bed he had no clue, but one thing rang true. Scales black as the night sky and glowing green eyes was the last thing he laid his upon that night.


	3. New life, the end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was never my intention to make this a long book, it was just a fun au I made for the sake of making it.

After that night, lost in the snow everything had changed. The world he once knew had passed with the new day. Rin awoke in a new place and with that came a new life. In this new life, he was surrounded by humans who cared for and loved him. Along with the humans, there were tribes and clans of dragons that the humans often associated with, giving Rin a taste of dragon life outside of the stuffy dens he was once a part of. The dragonlords were no more than a legend to the dragons and humans of this new place.

Yet they served as frighting fables to warn children of various acts or of the very real danger of running across one of the lords on a hunt.

Each day as Rin continued to grow the more he would learn; life, strife, struggle, death, morning, and prosperity all things he had been numbed to. The dragonlords had tasks but never lived under the fear of attack or harm, they were the literal gods of their species so why would they ever need to cower?

This new edge of life shown various perspectives of the dragonlords, some good some not as pleasant, and some were just flat-out lies. It was odd to hear such trivial and meaningless things being said about the lords, after all, Rin had just assumed most dragon willing obeyed and cherished the lords. The lords always provided similar protection and security to him as they did to their “subjects,”. Or at least, that is what Rin had come to believe. 

Some dragons seemed detached to the point where they thought nothing of the dragonlords, pushing the very mention of their existence away as such a trivial and silly idea. According to them if the lords ever did exist then they died out thousands of years ago with the supposed dragon goddess.

Regardless of his insistence, the dragons wouldn’t listen to the word of naive dragonlet so Rin quickly learned it was better to avoid the topic overall.

Not too far from the small den, he had made by the human and dragon village was a school for appearing dragon tamers and riders alike. They had some of the best programs and kept all their dragons in good health putting the care of the majestic beings over the cost of the operations. It was a nonprofit school dedicated to the growth and development of human and dragon relationships, a true example of how little faith they all had in the dragonlords.

But could anyone be blamed for not believing in the lords? It had been hundreds of years since all dragons had been humored by the dragon lords. They all stayed hidden amongst the clouds and in their dens.

The school also provided better than decent care for the dragons that agreed to work with the school in teaching humans. It was a safe, clean, and healthy environment and Rin was not one to squander such an opportunity. 

To say the humans were surprised to find a dragon from a believed to be an extinct group of dragons would have been an understatement. Between his peculiar breed and young age, Rin rose a lot of suspicions and his claims of seemingly to be from the dragonlord dens. 

Yet through various tests, some genetic and some practicality it was proven Rin was a part of the “mythical” breed. 

Rin’s claims did not go unheard this time around, hundreds of humans came from all around the world to hear the words of the dragonlet. As the years went on and Rin got more and more visitors slowly he had more and more to show.

He enjoyed the life he had now, one of joy and peace, of course, there came hard times with learning new skills or getting a good grip on his transformations. Yet he always had someone by his side.

Shura had only joined the academy a few years ago and yet she was already in the higher ranks. It was she who ended up introducing Yukio to Rin. Yukio was a promising student with higher grades than social skills. At first, he was rather awkward and meek but Rin was able to get him talking.

Appertaintly Yukio was less human than Rin originally guessed. Describing his half-dragon father and fully dragon mother Yukio was rather surprised to find his mother was not always in a courtship with his Father.

Cold winter nights after losing your mate to the dragonlords will make you do desperate things when you are in need. Rin did not feel bitter over Yukio or his mother’s actions it was the past and life moved on...

“Rin, you have a visitor,” 

That's why he never thought his past would come to haunt him.

“One second Shura, I will be there,”

His human form was rather weak but it was far easier to talk and move around the building in such a small body. In dragon molts, he was only a late teen and his human body reflected this, in his true dragon form he was only a teen bridging on a young adult. In human years he was just close to his fifth century. So, there wasn’t much delay in his growth from human to dragon forms.

Sure he was rather old to be in the stage of molts that he was but being part of an ancient breed of dragon god does put a slight disadvantage on things. Regardless Rin still managed to hold his head up and go about his life as he normally would, regardless of his peculiar circumstances.  
Scraping himself from his bed Rin walked over to the door and pushed it open as he made his way into the endless halls of the school. Fiddling with the fabric of his shirt Rin made his way to where Shura had called him from, just a soft trot away from the visitor center there she stood with a steady but unsure grimace on her face.

“Is something wrong?” Rin yawned as he gazed at the fiery woman.

“You tell me,” Shura growled nudging her head to the dragon perched outside of the building. 

The familiar scales sent revolting past flushing to Rin’s mind. His legs tensed and his breath hitched as the golden eyes met his. His pearlescent fangs glinted as the elder dragon’s lip parted in a snarl. Rin hoped to never see Him again, he would disrupt the small paradise he had. It was just better if the lords remained a mystery.

“So this is where you ran off to,” Amaimon stepped closer, claws digging into the pavement underneath him.

“What are you doing here Amaimon?” Rin snarled, magic flowing through his fingertips. 

He could easily shift right here and now but would fighting be a better option? What other choice was there? Amaimon was never one to listen to reason…

“I came to take you back where you belong,” Amaimon snapped.

Rin stepped back closer to the comfort of his new familiarity. “I have found my place here. I don’t belong with the kings,” 

“It’s worse than I thought. You actually believe you are a human don’t you?” Amaimon mirrored Rin’s step only closing the distance between them. Although with his large frame it became increasingly hard to even fit as the building was not made to host a being of his size. Your pitiful form proves that much,”

“I have found my place, why does it matter so much to you where that place is?” Rin stepped forward. “If you are going to stay for any longer I would suggest you take a form more fitting for this environment as well, you won’t be able to go anywhere without breaking everything,”

“Why shouldn’t it matter? We thought you were dead. You left and threw everything out of loop. An explanation for your actions is the least you could do,” Amaimon snidely responded, staying frozen in his dragon form.

“Samael, the one who raised me from birth decided to replace me, apparently I wasn’t good enough for him, too young, too weak, too dependent. So I set out and now I have made a life for myself that I enjoy, the life that I want, a life that I need,” Rin stood his ground as a mix of emotions swelled through him.

“So you don’t care about the rest of us then? All that matters is Samael’s opinion on things?” A dangerous glare lingered in Amaimon’s eyes.

“You act as everyone cared for me, none of you even had time for me not to mention when you finally did get the time you spent it on something else instead of daring to visit me,” Rin didn’t know how to feel, it was a numbing surge of feeling. “I would understand if Lucifer was upset with my leaving but even he must understand what's it like to be the youngest, the most easily forgotten, the one that gets the simple tasks and is shoved into a corner to be forgotten.”

“That's a rather bold claim of you to make, we never neglected you!” Amaimon’s tail whipped around in the air in a raged dance.

“Didn’t you? Anyone who truly cared about me was Lucifer and half of the time he was busy arranging things or making preparations. But everyone else was perfectly content with letting me wander around the halls finding rocks,” Rin finally broke, tears streaming down his face. “You never acted as you cared about me. It’s better if you leave,”

With an irritated sigh masking a snarl, the emerald scales slowly began to shrink and model into a different form. Where the once elder dragon stood was now a human, no bigger than Rin. An odd patch of the green spindles of hair stuck out similar to one of his horns, but what Rin found the most bizarre was the lingering feeling of dread that had piled in his stomach.

Amaimon was in a human form, he had no reason to be scared for his or Shura’s safety. They could both easily handle a human…

“Rin we want you back. Lucifer, Iblis, Egyn, Astaroth and I just want you to come back. If you don’t come with me, then I will return with our siblings, and we will take you with force,” Amaimon slid forward, closer to Rin.

“No,” Rin cried. “I am not going back there. I won’t abandon my life here just to make you happy,”

“Maybe you don’t have to stay,” Shura chimed in, stepping in front of Rin. 

“Get out of my way,” Amaimon did not halt in his advance creeping closer.

“If Rin goes with you will you let him come back to us?” Shura did not waver in her stance.

“What?” Amaimon hissed as he was taken aback by the statement. Was this human really trying to reason with him?

“Instead of making someone miserable isn’t it better just to visit each other? If Rin visits you today and then in a week or so one of you comes and visits Rin then you can still see each other without interfering with anyone's lives,” Shura explained.

“How dare you assume you know us,”

“Amaimon, if you and the other lords take me from my home then I will never forgive you. I’m fine with visiting but I am not going to abandon my life here,” Rin stepped away from the cover of Shura. “I miss you all but I am just not fit for that kind of life right now. I have found the place that I belong. Please, don’t try and take this away,”

“Well, this is going to be fun to explain to everyone,” Amaimon grumbled kicking at the ground.

“You don’t need to explain it. I will tell them. I just need you to stand by my decision and respect it,” Rin’s emotions steadied for a moment just to clarify. 

“Fine, but we are leaving now,” Amaimon demanded, swiftly turning as he readied to transform back to his normal body.

“Wai-it what?” Rin murred in shock as he felt strands of magic pulling him forward. “Can’t I just say goodbye to Shima first?”

“Why? Why is this Shima so important to you?” Amaimon’s head snapped back over to Rin.

“He’s a good friend,” Rin froze as anxiety overtook him.

Amaimon shifted on his feet. “I see you are still a terrible liar,”

“Shima is the speckled obsidian black fire that Rin has found as a mate. Shima is only ten human years older and is only one molt away from Rin,” Shura once again stepped in to save Rin some fracture of embracement.

“And a good boyfriend,” Rin muttered, picking at the dirt.

“You have a mate?” To say Amaimon was livid would be an understatement.

“Yes,” Pride passed over Rin as he puffed out his chest in some display of dominance. “And I am going to go say goodbye to him,”

“You what having a mate means right Rin?”

“If you are going to give the talk to me I don’t need to hear it,” Rin answered, oblivious to the storm that would arise from his actions.

“It’s not that. Every single one of our siblings will want to meet your mate and see if he is up to scale for our expectations,” Amaimon whined as he rubbed his head at the notification of even more trouble coming his way

“He’s my mate and it doesn't matter if he meets your expectations,” Rin huffed as the entitlement was baffling.

“But it does matter if he meets Lucifer’s or else you are going to have a dead dragon on your hands,” Amaimon warned.

“If Lucifer ever thinks about harming him-,”

“As long as he is well behaved there shouldn’t be a problem.” With a smile, Amaimon continued to walk. “Don’t take too long when saying goodbye the longer we make them wait more unbearable they will become,”

With a quaint nod, Rin sped off towards the halls. 

“The academy was rather surprised when they found out Rin was one of your species. For the longest time we thought you had all gone extinct,” Shura tried striking up a conversation to ease the thickly laid tension.

“You mortals always have been stupid,” Amaimon did not share the courtesy.

Although rather crude, the comment went unnoticed, after all, it wasn’t every day an ancient dragon just happens to show up. Surely the academy could arrange some deal with the lords in return they could study the elusive breed of dragons that reign supreme for all these years.

There is so much culture, so much life and destiny embedded into the lives of the dragons, and who better to answer their questions than the dragons who have been here since the dawn of humanity? The dragonlords could finally be the missing piece to the puzzle that so many were trying to solve, a gateway to a better world.

Still, with the dragon lords or not, there is still much life to live.

“Wha. Rin! Get back here and give me a real kiss,” Shima hissed, running after the teasing dragon.

“No, sorry bea I have to go now. I will be back soon,” Rin called as he reappeared by Shura. 

Catching a glimpse of the seemingly scrawny boy Amaimon wanted to spit out the bitter throat that had crawled along his tongue. Hopefully, his dragon form was better looking than his human one. Or at least was more threatening. Shima looked more human than Shura did there was no denying the fact but it only seemed to irk Amaimon further.

“Are you ready now?” Amaimpn groaned as he stepped closer to the outdoors, desperately craving to shift back into his preferred form.

“Yes,” Rin chirped following, although still somewhat reluctant.

Amaimon was first to transform with RIn following quickly…

It was rather jarring to see Rin so big now, the mental image of a small dragonlet could not compare to the similarly sized dragon that now stood next to him. How much of his life had Amaimon missed out on? How much of the life did the brothers as a whole miss out on? They won’t be happy when they find out how much Rin has grown. 

To even think this Rin used to be so small, barely filling Lucifer’s palm and now he was just as big as Amaimon and still growing at that…

Taking to the air was no struggle for either one of them. Bringing a frown to Amaimon as he caught a glimpse of the solum expression written on Rin’s face. 

The days of Rin riding on his back were long gone… He should have spent more time with him when he was a hatchling and a dragonlet, maybe then he would have felt more loved. More wanted, more desired. Maybe then he wouldn’t have left.

Sure they could never fully replace Mephisto but if all the brothers came together they could surely ban together to give Rin the respect and love he deserved. But the days for those chances were long gone, Rin had a new life, a life miles away from them. A life out of their reach, sure they could be apart of it. Never again could they be his entire world as they once were... It was their own failure that lead him away…

The physical sign of time showed how much Rin had truly changed; could not be reversed, could not be broken, could not be undone. Only it could be observed now respectfully from a safe distance as Rin continued to grow...

Did Rin hate them? For ignoring him, for pushing him away, for leaving, for not spending more time with him? Because they surely were mad, bitter, and heartbroken over the loss of the dragonlet. More importantly, they were angry with themselves for letting him slip by so easily and quickly, the idea of losing him was devastating, but even though the likelihood of Rin surviving was far less than his demise they still searched, they still squandered everything just to find him once more…

They had thought of giving up so many times prior, they would be happy to find Rin safe and sound… Just the very thought of all their hard work not going to waste would bring them some ounce of joy. 

Just to see the same pearlescent scales, the same shining smile, the familiar chirp and coo of Rin’s happy words. Just to see Rin happy and safe again. To see Rin be apart of the family again; what they wouldn’t give for that is a mystery.

The air was cold and moist, laying gentle patterns, odd dew, and frost along the flaps of skin and bone. Soft patches of circulations cut off as Rin continued his flight path. Amaimon faced the same trial although his wings seemed to be used to it, or maybe he had just learned to ignore things like this. It certainly would explain the few tears and scars embedded in his wings, It would only explain why he failed to groom himself so often. For lack of batter words, Amaimon just seemed not to care about his physical appearance.

“We should be arriving in just a few more minutes,” Amaimon spoke up as a steady warning for Rin to prepare himself.

“Should I be this nervous?” Rin whined as he felt the anxiety wash through him.

“Yes,” Amaimon bluntly stated. “Be ready to deal with the mixed reactions, they have... changed a bit since you left,”

“Oh well that makes me feel so much better,” Rin griped.

“Be thankful I even warned you, brat,” and there he went back to the stubborn and annoying kid he always was.

Always being rude and coy, not even sparing a small thank you... To be fair the lords were not always the nicest either.

“I will go in first and get Lucifer, stay out of sight till then, we don’t want to cause a ruckus,” Amaimon hummed as the mountains came into view.

With a jolted nod Rin took to the clouds, his pale scales merging with the white tufts of water. Soon the same anxiety passed over Amaimon as he dove for the mouth of the cave. The pressure of the situation collided with his chest, making each breath a writhing battle of fear and pain.

“Hello, Amiamon, how did your scouting go?” Iblis greeted with a sly smile.

Did she know? No, there wasn’t any way she could possibly know.

“Is something the matter you are acting odd,” Her smile fell as he inspected Amaimon.

“I need to talk with Lucifer,” Amaimon replied sharply before reconsidering his words. “I have some news but he needs to hear it first,” 

“Why does he need to hear it first?” Iblis inquired.

“You’ll see,” Amaimon pushed past the scarlet dragon.

“But you won’t mind if I walk with you to the den right?” Shura began to follow after the other lord.

“Of course, but I would prefer if you kept your nose out of my business,” Amaimon growled at the instance of his sister.

“I didn’t mean anything Amaimon, you can calm down… Just you are benign rather shy and it’s off. It’s unlike you to be so skittish,” Iblis grumbled.

“Well this news is still rather startling to me, and I don’t know what reaction will become of me sharing the news,” Amaimon fidgeted against the floor.

“I… I will go with you just to make sure Lucifer stays in line,” Iblis slid up next to the dragon as they continued their walk.

“Thanks,” Amaimon muttered, keeping his head hung low.

There was no denying the building fear and worry within him. But at least Iblis was here to prove some protection, even if she was useless against Lucifer.

Arriving upon the golden cave Amaimon couldn't help but quiver.

“Amaimon, Iblis. What business do you have?” Lucifer asked with a tiered growl.

“I… I found Rin,” Amaimon’s voice shook as he spoke.

“You what?” Iblis let out a startled belt. 

“He’s flying right outside. He has his terms of visitation and such… he wants to tell you himself,” Amaimon added.

“He’s here?” A smile appeared on Lucifer's lips. “You said he was outside right?”

“Yes,” Amaimon muttered making way for the eldest.

Lucifer wasted no time slithering his way from the dens and out into the misty air. His head lifted hopefully as he scanned the clouds for any mention of Rin.

“You found Rin?” Iblis scolded just above a whisper. 

“Yes,”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Lucifer deserved to know first,”

The wind rushed past as Lucifer continued to stare blankly into the sky, watching each wisp of cloud for any sign of life. Watching for a glimmer, a shine, something to track. Just a sign that Rin was out here somewhere. A sign that possibly Rin was waiting for him.

The sky although somewhat covered by clouds was far too barren for his liking, oddly enough the clouds had been fewer and fewer by the day… If this lack of clouds kept up then they coil possibly be facing a drought and that was not promising even to endure.

Finally, a small tip poked out from the corner of a cloud, Lucifer’s heart rose with possibility. 

The clouds flew apart as Rin followed the currents of twisting and turning winds, letting himself flow with the breeze. He had grown far more elegant than Lucifer could have ever guessed. 

“You have grown haven't you?” Lucifer cooed, letting his voice travel to Rin. Just sitting in the moment is far better than trying to explain his feelings. Getting Rin back could wait, he just… He just needed to know Rin was safe and happy. From the looks of how much he had grown, there was no doubt he had been eating enough.

There were no scars or apparent injuries so he was safe… 

“Hi, Lucifer,” Rin chirped as he landed rather abruptly in front of the golden dragon.

Rin never was one to be overly polite or professional, it was a rather annoying habit of his when he was younger, but now… 

It would have been bad if Rin were formal, it would be too much of a change; Rin wouldn’t be Rin if he changed like that…

Lucifer didn’t think, his wings embraced Rin and his claws moved closer, edging on the barrier between comfortable and unacceptable. He just needed this…

“I’m glad you are ok,” Lucifer purred, taking in the scent of the once dragonlet.

“Yeah… Look Lucifer I’m sorry for leaving,” Rin began.

Lucier cut off his apology. “You don’t need to apologize Rin,”

“But I do. It was unfair of me to not consider your feelings at all. We could have worked something or taken a trip away from Samael. Either way, I would appreciate it if I could take you to where I live now. I think you will like the humans there a lot,” In one breathless speech Rin announced all his feelings.

“Of course, I would love to see your new home,” 

A clattering mix of snarls and other metallic rings from meeting of the floor along with crashing from broken glass and pottery. The noise was a perfect indicator of an ensuing hurricane of a mess.

“They certainly do have a knack for running moments,” Lucifer hissed as he drew his wings back.

Amaimon was first to come bolting around the concern with Iblis following soon after.

“You brats,” Azazel snarled, chasing after the two with fangs bared.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Lucifer stopped all fighting in its tracks as Amaimon and Iblis tried to scramble their way to stop, as traction worked against them.

“These two had the brilliant idea to wake me and drag me out here,”

“Well, it seems they are excited to share the news of Rin’s return,” Lucifer stepped to the side letting Azazel’s attention fall onto the lost dragon.

“Rin,” Azazel said, emotions of the past swirled around him. “Are you truly back?”

“Well not back to stay… but I will come and visit,” Rin swayed as he shifted where he stood.

“Does Samael know about this?” Azazel whispered.

“No, not yet,”

“Does Samael know about what?” The dragon in question seemingly appeared from out of nowhere. 

Everything stopped, all claws recoiled, all stones froze, all reading water calmed, all halloing wind hushed, all heart skipped a beat. Time stood frozen as the plates of the universe shifted, the thin fabric of reality tore through the concrete wall surrounding sanity.

“Rin?”

Everything flashed by as Rin felt himself in the air once more. Panic collated his mind as he tried to connect some memory to his current location, adrenaline spurred him onward. What was he doing? Why was he flying?

“Rin get back here,” Samael growled, by the lack of echo Rin could tell the elder dragon was not too far away…

He had to land, if things were to get any better he needed to collect himself.

But with the speed of his flight he knew that soon his wings would start to weaken. 

He didn’t have much energy left to continue at the altitude or pace he was flying.

Sifting through clouds he began his steady descent all the while panic still buzzed through him. 

Samael’s stray calls continued on slowly getting more desperate and broken for the fear of losing Rin once more.

Landing on a plush patch of grass Rin let all his tension slip away as he turned his head to the sky, letting out a small chirp with what remains of energy he had.

It didn’t take long for Samael to track the young dragon, with the other lords quickly following after.

They couldn’t blame him for panicking when he saw Samael, their last interaction was not the best he could admit…

Mending their relationship took far longer than they all preferred but the hard work was worth it, with just a few days Rin had gotten in rhythm with talking and visiting them on his off days. Of course, that brought up the question of Rin's mate and when they would get to meet him. 

Shima was not too happy to be examined by eight dragon lords of pure myth but between his love for Rin and the pressure from the academy he went with the meeting. For the most part, they were polite and calm when talking, even though Amaimon wished to tear his head off.

In fact, all the lords shared a very similar feeling regarding the mate. He better cherish Rin, if not for Rin’s sake but instead his own. To harm one of their kin was to insult them directly and they never did well with direct insults.

But Shima managed with his lackluster charm to get on the good side of Lucifer, so for the most part he was safe.

The academy benefited greatly from the dragon lord’s arrival as per Rin’s request the lords went along with the various tests the humans did to catogloge their breed as a whole. 

The new influx of attention was odd and another new pace of life that was brought about by Rin. Although different the dragons couldn’t say they minded it all too much, the praise and inflation around them was far more interesting than staying cooped up in the dens for days on end.

Also getting to know the birth mother of Rin was rather interesting, but the tail of the failed dragon lord and his queen was for another day, possibly even another book…

Life, although derailed for a bit, had found a new stream of things and became far greater than they all thought it would turn out to be. It was one hell of a life they were living and for that they were grateful.

The birds, bees, and trees were all in order, everything was right in the world and all were at peace… Unless the author deiced to do a sequel.

The end.


End file.
